French President Nicolas Sarkozy has opened a summit of 43 leaders IAEA team to visit Syria ...
Czechs for cooperation with eastern EU neighbours ... in Paris to launch a new union between Europe and Mediterranean rim nations.

The union will tackle such issues as regional unrest, immigration and pollution.

Mr Sarkozy said its aim was to ensure the region's people could love each other instead of making war.

Earlier, the Israeli and Palestinian leaders expressed their optimism over the chances for Middle East peace.

Mr Sarkozy said the group "will build peace in the Mediterranean together, like yesterday we built peace in Europe".

Welcoming the presence of Arab states alongside Israel, Greece alongside Turkey and Morocco alongside Algeria, he added that the group would not be "north against south, not Europe against the rest... but united".

Transform the region

Mr Sarkozy has long spearheaded the idea of a union for the Mediterranean.

He recently claimed the grouping could transform the region into an area of peace and prosperity.

The French president was clearly buoyed by the presence in Paris of so many Mediterranean rim leaders and said the union would be based on concrete projects, says BBC world affairs correspondent Nick Childs.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner urged the countries to unite, saying underlying tensions and growing disparities were too risky to ignore.

But critics have dismissed the new union as lacking substance, and diplomats say there are continuing disagreements over key issues such as how to address the Middle East peace process and a possible role for the Arab League.

The only leader boycotting the Paris meeting is Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi, who has described the union as a new form of colonialism.

France and Egypt plan to co-chair the new organisation for the first few years.

Never closer

Meanwhile, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas said both he and Mr Olmert were serious and wanted peace.

Israeli PM Ehud Olmert said his country had never been so close to reaching an agreement with the Palestinians as now.

He added that he would like direct talks with Syria, but warned they must not hinder talks with the Palestinians.

Mr Sarkozy said the role of Europe and France was to help achieve peace through economic development, political initiatives and providing guarantees for all stakeholders.

He said the main problem was one of confidence.

"How can we achieve peace in this part of the world unless we build confidence, unless we extend the hand of peace and take the initiative?" he said.

BBC Europe editor Mark Mardell, in Paris, said the meeting had been very optimistic.

Progress has already been made in other areas. Mr Sarkozy announced on Saturday that Syria and Lebanon had agreed to set up embassies in each other's capitals for the first time.

Relations between the two have been strained since Lebanon's former PM Rafik Hariri was assassinated in 2005 - an attack which Lebanon claims Syria was involved in.

The French president has asked Syria's leader Bashar Assad to use his ties with Iran to help resolve the international stand-off over Tehran's nuclear ambitions.

UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown is expected to use the summit to recommend increasing EU sanctions on Zimbabwe's leadership, following the rejection of a sanctions resolution by the UN Security Council.

(BBC)

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